November 15, 2023 • 55 mins
She's a woman of many talents! Actor, producer, director, former president of the Screen Actors Guild, and DWTS contestant!
Melissa Gilbert joins Cheryl to talk about her time on season 14 of DWTS, revealing how she ended up with Maks, why they clashed so much, and how being on the show brought up body image issues from the past.
She also discusses her time on the beloved hit show, "Little House On The Prairie," celebrating its 50th Anniversary next year! Including the vital lesson Michael Landon taught her, dealing with the pressure in Hollywood to look a certain way and letting herself age gracefully.
Plus, Melissa answers fan questions, takes on the rapid-fire test, and talks about her Modern Prairie app, which hopes to foster a community of women celebrating life and embracing aging.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Sex Lies and Spray Tans with Me Cheryl
Burke and iHeartRadio podcast. Hey guys, welcome to Sex Lies
and Spray Tans. We've got an incredible guest today on
the show. She is an actor, producer, podcaster, and you
probably know our best for her role as Laura Ingalls
Wilder on House on the Prairie. She's graced the screens
(00:23):
for nearly fifty years and got her Hollywood Star Walk
of Fame in nineteen eighty five and spent four years
as the President of the Screen Actors Guild. In two
thousand and nine. Our guests also opened up with her
struggle with alcoholism in her autobiography, Prairie Tale, a memoir.
I'm actually currently listening to it. It's pretty good. What
I admire most about our next guest the most is
(00:43):
how unspoken she is and has been about sexual abuse
in her line of work, and how she has taken
on the pressure of aging in Hollywood. On a lighter note,
she is a fellow arts and craftswoman. That's right. If
anyone knows me, they know I love me some arts
and crafts. Eh. In all seriousness, though, I thought we'd
continue the import conversation when it comes to body image
with someone who has been a huge advocate and powerful
(01:05):
voice on this subject. My guest has been vocal about
her experiences with feeling the need to look a certain way,
especially in the entertainment industry, and by continuing to tell
her story, she's been a huge inspiration to me and
many as she embraces and doesn't shy away from her authenticity.
She quotes the idea that we're trying to teach people
to be afraid of Aging is a mistake, Aging is
(01:27):
a gift. I like to say, I'm aging gratefully. It's
exhausting keeping up that kind of facade, she said. So
she stopped it, all the injections, the hair dye, the
red carpets, and moved away from Hollywood to upstate New York,
where she lives a slow and intentional cabin dwelling life. Clearly,
her vulnerability is powerful, and I know so many of
you will relate to her as I can definitely say
(01:48):
that I do as well. After all, she's made it
the mission of Modern Prairie, her lifestyle brand, to empower
and connect older women as she builds the community of
people whose intention is to embrace their age without feeling
the need to live a material, realistic life of vanity.
My guest has redefined beauty today, and of course let's
not forget her dancing skills. As one of the celebrity
contestants on Dancing with the Stars season fourteen who danced
(02:10):
with fan favorite Maxim Schmerkowsky, I recently received a DM
from her saying, I've been following you on Instagram and
you are so brave, so strong, so authentically you. Proud
of you. Also as an actor, you gave me the
only note I ever got on that show that I
could really sink my teeth into. In our group number,
you said to Max, just tell her to dance arrogantly
changed everything. Please welcome my friend Melissa Gilbert to the show.
(02:35):
Hi Melissa, Oh my goodness, thank you so much for
coming on the pod. But you know, honestly, I just
have done so much research on you, especially obviously lately
because obvious for obvious reasons, but also I am so
intrigued by all that you've done and for how strong
and inspirational you are as a woman, and how you've
(02:58):
been such an advocate for you know, beauty, and how
it's defined and just being an open book. So thank
you for all that you've done and do.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Thank you so much. You know, when we were working together,
there was so little time for anybody to have a
conversation that we barely even got to know each other
at all. So I'm really glad that we at least
have this chance to talk. And now that we're.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Kissed again, yes, well, you know we can have a
we can have a newfound friendship because I definitely I've
also downloaded. I just told you I'm listening to your audible,
but I'm also I'm on that app now, the Modern
Prairie app. Oh, because you know it's so important to
you know, maybe you just tell my listeners a little
(03:41):
bit about modern Prairie. I mean, I wasn't going to
start there, but let's just start there because it's so
useful and it's something that we need as women, you know,
to create a community, because you know, I'm I moved
out of la as well. I'm still in California, but
I definitely feel the need to create or be a
part of one.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, it is. It's very important. And I'll tell you
I'm way ahead of you in years and as we
age we go through so many extraordinary changes, and there's
such a tendency for people to all our lives, generally
as women, to pigeonhole us and kind of put us
in the corner, so to speak. And as we get older,
you'll find that people tend to either think, you know,
(04:21):
oh there goes that crazy old lady. Don't talk to her,
or oh she's hute. Look how sweet that little old
lady is. They totally underestimate the strength our knowledge.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yes, I couldn't agree more. I mean, there's also so
many questions because, like you know, certain things are not
talked about when it comes to metapause, for example, Yeah,
I guess so.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And I think that's part of the reason we created
my partner, Nicole Hasey, who is a genius, my business partner,
and she's the CEO or co founders of Modern Prairie.
One of the reasons we did that was we wanted
to create a space where women could talk to other
women safely, yes, constantly, and about all of this stuff
and all of the things that we're dealing with. Aging
parents is a big one. I'm going through to I
(05:04):
have one parent left, and my mom left, and she
doesn't have dementia or anything. But she had a health
scare last year and it was a real wake up
call for my sister and me and my kids and
the grandkids. And I'm sure and that's sort of part
of life. And I find one of the things that
women do really, really well is we don't do tiny talk.
We get no.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
I hate small talk.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I can't handle it. I guess why. I don't like
going to cocktail parties and like covering with people I
don't know. I don't have time. I want to talk
about the good stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yes, yes, yes, like let's get down and dirty. So
speaking of this is a great transition. Well thank you
for doing that, by the way, because I plan on
just continuing on and slowly. You know, I suffer from
social anxiety, as I know you do as well, or
you did, so it's it's but since this pandemic, I
guess too, it's like we've found other ways of communicating
(05:56):
without having to be in person, you know, And I
think maybe it's more of that. My therapist said to
me recently that I am more vulnerable actually via zoom
than I am in person, which is great because now
I don't have to drive all the way to La
and go into her office. You know, like we're just
we're having a zoom relationship.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
That's fantastic. Listen, whatever it takes. Yeah, exactly, A proponent
of therapy.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
So good on you, thank you, thank you. Okay, so
let's rewind. So you started in this business at such
a young age. I'm your a young age. So how
are you still saying.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I'm not that's the key. I'm the good kind of crazy, though, I.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Think, yes, yes, you're not crazy at all.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I started when I was two, clearly not a conscious
decision on my part. But I grew up in a
family full of show business people. My father was an actor, singer, dancer,
stand up comic. He started out as an acrobat in
the circus as a child, so he had that in
him his parents. His mother was a trapeze artist from France.
(07:01):
His father was an Irish fadvillian. My mother was an actress.
My grandfather, her father was a very famous comedy writer.
He created The Honeymooners. He wrote Our Dee Martin and
Jerry Lewis. He he used to write punch up jokes
for John F. Kennedy when he was president.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, so it's in my family. Fortunately for me, I'm
adopted too, and I was born of people with musical
and you know, performing, a performing family, and then given
to a family of performers.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
So right, so you were meant to be here.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Absolutely, this is this is my this is my world.
And you know, it just seemed my mom had family,
we had family friends who would look at me and say,
you know, she should be doing commercials, she should be
doing commercials. So my mom would say to my dad,
I don't think so, and he'd say, well, I did
you just try it. So they just tried it, and
it stuck. And I did a lot of commercials and
(07:58):
then you know, started doing little here and there, but
nothing major because they didn't want me out of school.
And then On the Prairie came along, and it was
my mom's favorite books and my favorite book. I'd read
at least two of them at that point in school.
So it was sort of a we've got to see
if this old. Yeah, and that's right.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
That's a great I mean it sounds I mean a
little bit with my my mother. I mean I come
from the original dance mom. So it was like ballet, ballroom, anything,
you know, anything in the arts, and thank God for
her for that because I wasn't great at school.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
You know, I was, oddly enough. I liked school. I've
always been a bit of an overachiever and I pushed
myself really, really hard. So you know, it's no surprise
I started getting migraines when I was eight.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Oh really?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Oh yeah? Oh yeah, say more?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Was that more of the mental health side of things.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Or it may well have been. I don't know that
I was clocking it. I don't I know that I
wasn't clocking it at the time. I mean, I you know,
we all have trauma, and of course I had my share.
My parents divorced when I was six. My father died
when I was eleven, so you know, I've walked through
a lot of stuff. But I put a lot of
(09:11):
pressure on myself to be the best, and I was
so competitive. I was given dance class. I started dance
to it too while I was acting. So yeah, this
myth that that most of the people who are on
Dancing with the Stars have zero dance experience.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Oh please, why would you sign up for a show
if you had zero dance experience?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I just want to know I got especially that show
you've got to be. I mean you got to.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I mean in a way though, don't you think. I mean,
we'll get there. We'll get there. But like, when did
you When did you start to feel the pressures of Hollywood,
you know, like of the vanity side of things.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I really started to feel it when I hit puberty.
And you know, at the same time that I hit puberty,
my character on the show was falling in love with
the man who would become her husband. And and on
the show, I mean, in real life, Laura Ingleswilder got
married at I believe it was sixteen seventeen. I was
my character and I was that age and I wasn't
even dating yet. I mean, it really something that would
(10:14):
never be filmed today too, because my leading man, God
love him, was like a man. He was in his twenties.
He drove a car.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Oh wow, he was.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I don't know how we pulled all of that off.
But yeah, as I hit puberty and then into adolescence,
that's when it became Oh her nose is too wide,
Oh her boobs are too small. Oh she's gaining weight.
Let's put her on a diet.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
They would say that to you.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, put me on a diet. Put me in a corset,
put me in a padded bra, Let's get your nose done.
It was sort of like this is just the way
things are done. And I sort of feel like I
came in at the tail end of like a weird
Hollywood studio system, Like I was the last one that
was molded, sort of because my sister came after me
(10:59):
and did and she's just her, She's always been her,
She's been allowed to be her. I sort of felt
like I was sort of the last I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, let me mold you into what you think that
you need to be or whatever that person needs you
to be.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
How did rough message for a teenage girl? Oh, thinking
that you're enough at that age, it really sets you
up for a lot of problems later. And I'll tell you,
I look at pictures of myself back then. I wish
i'd know I had. I was in great I had
a great physique. I was healthy, I was strong. I
danced almost five days a week. I was in the gym,
(11:35):
I played football with boys. I was like I was
a combination of a ballerine and a tomboy.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I love it. I love it. We have a lot
in common, you know, I feel the same way. You know,
I literally grew out of my tights when I was
eleven years old because I actually hit puberty when I
was nine. And you know, I think that happens because
due to the sexual abuse I dealt with when I
was a little girl. And you know, supposedly, they they say,
(12:02):
statistics say that when young girls go through sexual abuse
at a young age, they develop a lot faster. And
so that's when I actually, yeah, so that I had
the same body as I do now than I did
back when I was nine.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I didn't. I didn't. I wish I had that body now,
but I I you know, I at that time it
just wasn't good enough. It wasn't my chest was too flat,
my legs were too muscular. I just wasn't feminine enough.
I was more of you know, I danced like a dude.
Actually it was more of a jumper than a floater.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Well, I'm sure it was beautiful. And I just watched
all of your dances on Dancing with the Stars, and
you were that was some hard choreography, Maxim Schmerkowsky. I
mean that was really hard. What he gave you.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
He didn't, he didn't, he didn't give me a break
ever at all, not for not for a moment.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
I mean, we know Max, I would be shocked if
he did.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
No, I know, and I was, you know, I was
in a really interesting place emotionally at that time too,
because I had just come out of a a I
was just going through it, finishing up a divorce of
a relationship that had been twenty years and in a
marriage that had been not great and for the last
(13:21):
several years where I really kind of put myself in
the background to make myself smaller to make him feel bigger,
which is something that so many women do that.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I do that a lot.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yes, terrible, I don't know. That's like the biggest therapy
thing that I had to go through. And so I
was just coming out of that, and I just found
my voice and I was going kind of the opposite direction.
So I had super Voice and that did not mix
well with super.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Max thought at all. Sorry, I just laughing because like
every time you explain part of your story, I can
relate so much to it. But yes, no, Super Voice
and super Max don't get along.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Oh it just I mean, and we loved each other dearly,
just clashed constantly, and I mean there there was. It
was just so dramatic. There were so many taking off
microphones and leaving the room coming down, and you're not
following me with the damn camera. Get out of my face, Max,
go away, you know, And thank god there were other
(14:23):
people around. They got for Val and Tonal and Peta
because they were falling in love then too.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Oh right, remember, yes, thank god, yes, because you could
go home to Petera and then hopefully be you know,
happier the next day at.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Least a moment or two. And then yeah, I was
in to rehearsal, it would just start again. What's wrong with?
What's wrong with you?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Were you trained for this though in a way, because
like you said, you went through dance experience. You had
some dance experience, but like obviously I don't know if
it was was a ballet that you were involved in.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, I had a Russian ballet who danced. I mean
we had she had a big stick and she'd hit
us in the I remember Popo Flett. She'd hit us
in the ass.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
That would not fly today, no, not at all.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
But other than that, I mean, uh, I think I
put most like I said, I put most of the
pressure in myself, so I had to be the best
one in the class at all times. And that was
a struggle for me because I came into Dancing with
the Stars clearly not the best one in the class
and one of the oldest ones there. And my body
just didn't do what it used to do.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
But that's because you went through a broken You had
a broken back prior. Was it prior or was it after?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
It was prior? I had broken my back before, which
is why that jive we did was to celebrate my
back healing. Really fantastic. Yeah, that's you know, the whole
reason I did the show is to prove to myself
that I could do it after breaking my back, and
(15:59):
I did it, and then you did and ended up
having to have next surgery a couple of years later,
and another next surgery a couple of years after that.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So here you go. But dancing is healing other than that, Oh.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
No, it's great. It's the gift that keeps up giving.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I mean really, I mean, like you know, like you
said when you when you met your now husband, you know,
I think a residentwhere where you were like in the
best shape. But more importantly though, we know that that
happens on a physical level. I think it's more about
the mental level, mental health level, right, Like, you know,
I just had Lacey Swimmer on. I'm not sure if
you know Lacey. She was a former pro dancer.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I met her once, I believe, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
And I actually just had Louison prior to this interview.
And you know, we talk a lot about body image
and especially in the industry, the dance industry, but now
the dance industry, in the Hollywood industry, you know. So
it's like it's almost like it's not a double whamy.
I don't want to speak negatively, because you know that's
not It has given me so much joy and it
(17:00):
has helped me, you know, deal and just in general
just get through some trauma in my life. Absolutely, dancing
has saved my life in so many different ways. But
it has also left the lasting or re traumatized some
things about my own view as well when it comes
to myself, right, like dealing with body dysmorphia. Had you
(17:22):
ever dealt with anything similar?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I think so. I think I don't know that it
went as far as body dysmorphia, but it definitely I
definitely was very insecure about my looks for a really
long time, a really long time. And I wrote in
my book which you're listening to, that being on Dancing
with the Stars sort of it heightened all of that
(17:45):
for me because of you know, it was just it
was the hair extensions and the makeup and the costumes
and the SPRAYTND and you know, little did I know
that the spraytan had a dual purpose aside from Niki duh. Yeah,
after making you look thinner and you know more even tone,
which for me is like a miracle because I'm pasty
(18:07):
white and blue, so that was great. But it covers
up all of bruises.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Right, but it also like bodybuilders as well. Yeah, it
just makes you cut.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Muscles in I know, and the glitter and the oh
my gosh.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Wait speaking of bruises or what what do you mean?
Say more?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I had at one point, after the I believe it
was the Argentine Tango, I had Max's finger marks.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Oh my god. You guys, though, I have to say,
when I was watching all of your dances, like I said,
that was some hard choreography, but you didn't just keep up.
You sold it. I mean, you guys had you told
a story through movement. It was really beautiful to watch,
though I know how agonizing, you know when you the
(18:52):
pain was at the time, and I didn't even see you.
We'll get there, but I never even saw you hit
your head on his leg when that injury happened, and
you got was it a mild concussion or a full
blown concussion?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
It's a full blown concussion. But I hit him with
my neck O that sin it was the drop thing.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
The death drop was literally called a death drop.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, there you go. And I and I actually was
okay for a few minutes there, and then I got
up and we were walking over getting the scores and
I was listening to the judges talk and then all
of a sudden, I just couldn't hear anything like and
I got really dizzy, and I was just sort of
standing there looking at Tom Burcheron, who's been a friend
(19:33):
of mine forever in a day, just staring at Tom like, uh,
something's not right. And then by the time I got
upstairs in the skybox, that was it. That's when that's
when Gavin de Grog came over and said, something's wrong
with you, And I said, yeah, I'm not okay. I
have to get out of here and.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Wow, how okay? So when you say when you described
the ballroom dancing as like yes, spray tand slashes and
all of that, would you say that when you were
in rehearsals, would you have been able to been more
your authentic self? Because I believe that ballroom dancing has
always been the glitter and all of that. But you
(20:12):
can't even get to the glitter until you have the blood,
sweat and tears in rehearsal, right, Like, no one's going
to be getting there as far as I'm concerned, until
you are, until you feel comfortable enough to get and
perform in front of a live audience. But in this
case on Dancing on the Stars, the time is not
on your side. But would you say that that it
was necessary for you at all times during the show
(20:35):
or was it just the performance side of it.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Just a performance in rehearsal. I was, you know, fully
in my own skin, and it was just you know,
there was no other way to be. I mean, I
felt like the rehearsals were so intense and so so
I mean I walked out of every rehearsal just raw
and exhausted. I don't even remember eating when I got home.
(20:58):
I think one night I ate a box of red
hots of candy that was I could do.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
I know it's a survival of the fittest in that sense,
but more of the mental I think sense than physical.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Right, Oh, absolutely it is. I mean it's just it's
constant and there's always something kind of that can go wrong.
And then you know, if you don't speak a language
of choreography for a long time and then you're it's
like learning a whole new language and then all of
a sudden it changes because something has to change. Then
it gets crazy, and then they start adding dances, and
(21:31):
then it just it's it's it's a really emotional roller coaster,
but it does it does leave you with a feeling
that you've accomplished something really incredible.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, no, it does, and then it's crazy. You know,
twenty six seasons. After twenty six seasons of doing it,
it is there is that sense of like, oh my gosh,
you know it's not about winning, right, it's really about
just doing the best that you can at that time.
And after all of the ups and downs, because it's
like when you get saved, you're like, yes, I'm going
(22:04):
through another week that I'm like, oh shit, what am
I going to do next week? You know, so constant
battles like can I ever just stay in the moment
and be happy? No, because I'm always worried about like
what's happening next? How am I going to choreograph or
get my celebrity to dance next week? You know.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, it's hard, it's hard. I remember those days too, thinking, okay, great,
we're through shit. I don't want to be smart. I
need a day off, I can, I need one day.
And also, you know, I have children at home. I
had one Cheers at home. Still, I had a teenager
at home and we were going through a divorce, so
I had a lot of responsibility there too as a
single mom.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Okay, so I remember reading recently a People magazine article
about when you said that for you, when you tried
Pete Murgatroyd's or at the time Margatroit's dance costume on
that you were like you finally were able to fit
into her costume, but knowing that she's like twenty years
younger or something like that. It was you were quoted.
I'm saying it all wrong, most likely, So really.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It was it was actually a really cool feeling. It
was finale. It was for the last, the last episode,
and there was a big group dance and they put
us all in gold, and rather than make costumes all
over again, they tried to get us in other costumes
and they put She pulled one for me and I
put it on and I went, oh, my god, this
fits like a go on. Whose is this and she
said Pete's and they went what.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
What wait.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
My body? This is on me and it fits. I
felt like I had one. I felt like I won.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
I really that was it.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
And of course it did not last maybe two months, but.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
We said though the stress of the show and just
like barely having energy to eat.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
No, I know, it's and emotionally it is an exhausting experience,
it really is. And then the phone calls too though,
you know, me calling producers and going you're not going
to use that footage or you please don't do that.
It just makes Max look like a dick, and it
makes me please don't do it. And they're like, no,
we have to, and I said, no, you don't, you
(24:18):
really don't. This is me. This is like the grown
up me going, you know, with my big super voice.
Now you can't don't do that to him, it's it's
a pressure cooker. And when people pop off, they pop off.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Yeah yeah, I mean and do they listen to you? Nope,
So you're talking about the packages for all my listeners
at the moment, Like, so they film you basically. So
this was back in the day when we had results shows.
So now there's no result shows, but there still is
the live show. But then they do film quite a lot.
I would say it depends on who the showrunner is.
(24:53):
I believe Conrad was the showrunner back in your Seat yep.
So like and the thing is, what he always advocates
is for the reality of the situation of whatever is
happening in the dance studio. And it's I remember, even
from personal experience, like there's certain things that I don't
want to be in the package when it just is
(25:13):
a blip of the actual rehearsal, whether it's like a
fight or like me like rolling my eyes or just
like me trying to cover my mic and say, you know,
there is just there's certain things because like as professional dancers,
we get so invested, especially when we teach specifically pasaobla,
we start to act like the character, right, Like we
get it almost looks like we are either mad or
(25:36):
over it or whatever. But like, and I know Max
since I was a teenager, and I know how intense
he is, and I feel like I'm the same, but
a woman version of him. But like when we do,
you know, teach it is hardcore because that's how we
were trained as kids, you know, And that's us giving
tough love. But then when we give you a great
(25:57):
app like an affirmation, like my love language is definitely
not worth of affirmation, but it is. We mean it,
you know, and we just want the best for our partners.
Did you It seems like you guys had a love
hate relationship.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Right, I don't think. So. Here's the thing I don't
do well being here's a great expression mollycoddled. I don't
like being patronized. I don't like being told I'm doing
great when I'm not doing great. Like to be told
the truth. And I like the challenge. And I definitely
got that with Max. He was brutally honest sometimes and
(26:34):
one of the things one of my reactions to it
was I would burst into tears a lot. And mostly
I was bursting into tears because it was just it
was like these constant epiphanies for me of going, Okay,
I can make it through this. And we're arguing about this,
but then we also it wasn't that we hated each
other so that we challenged each other a ton Yeah.
And I mean the other thing is I love the
(26:58):
idea of earning someone's respect, an admiration, love, and I
got that from him in spades. He was so generous
and so kind and so warm when he needed to be,
and it meant so much more than if he had been,
you know, a squishy love pie the whole time. Although
I could have a little more squishy love pie.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
I have to say, though, I remember Max. Max obviously
is only like that with people he believes in. That's
something I do know that.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
That was one of the things that I knew as well.
And I can't remember who told me that. Somebody else
told me that I.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Want to be Peter Tony or somebody.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Maybe it was Tony. It might have been Tony. Tony
was a Tony was a big help to us when
we would really have a problem and really and yeah,
because I would I would get so crazy that I
would not I would like stop and just Okay, this
is too much. I can't do this right now. I
don't want to talk to anybody. And then Tony would say,
(27:58):
come on, come dance with me.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Oh gosh, and you.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Go through my choreography and go oh oh oh I
got it. Oh great, okay, I love that. Yeah. So
it was it was really it was. It was really
nice being surrounded by all of them. And Val did
the same thing too, because remember Max got injured here
at his foot out, his foot was bugging him, and
so Val had to be ready to step in at yeah,
(28:22):
the last possible minute.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So would you say, would you have Okay, so let's
just say, if you were to ever do Dancing with
the Stars again, but be able to be your authentic self,
no spray tan, no glitter, no lashes, none of it,
would you want to dance with Max if that was
an option still, or would you choose someone else?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I would want to dance with Max. I actually I'll
tell you a little behind the scenes, okay that nobody
really knows.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Give me the tea girl, Give me the tea, the
tea baby.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
When I signed on to do the show, the whole
group took me out to lunch at the Beverly Hills
Hotel and I had been friends with Kirsty Allie and
so when I when I got in the call to
do the show, I called her and she said, you
have to dance with Max. If you can get Max,
you have to dance with Max. He's going to make
you crazy, but you have to do it because he'll
make you better. And so they took me to lunch
(29:14):
at the Beverly Hills Hotel and they said said, do
you have any questions for us? I said, I don't
really have any questions. I have a request. I would
like to dance with Max. And they said, we don't
do that, and I said, I know you don't. I'm
just telling you I want to dance with Max. And
so on the day I showed up to meet my
pro when he walked in the door, my first thought
was hell, yeah, here we go.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
And then how fast was it? When you were like,
hell no, it was.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
About take a few weeks from oh boy, what have
I done now? My favorite thing though, was Max's face
when he looked at me, because, like you when you
interviewed him on this podcast, he had no idea who
I was, no clue. He didn't he'd never seen Little
House in the Prairie, So on the second day rehearsal,
I showed up with a box set of Little House
(30:01):
on the Prairie DVDs for him to watch that. I'm
sure he still hasn't watched.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I'm sure he still has though. Hopefully he's showing his
kids now watching out with his kids.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Oh, there's his kids too.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Oh. Do you guys still keep in touch?
Speaker 2 (30:13):
We don't. On occasion, I talked to him. Every once
in a great while, I'll shoot him a text or something.
I actually texted him when he was in Ukraine when
the war started. I texted him and said, what can
I do? How can I help you get out? Can?
Speaker 1 (30:28):
I is there?
Speaker 2 (30:28):
It? I got you have to we need you home,
don't Yeah? But he didn't answer, which made me nervous.
But then I saw the footage of him come home,
so I thought, Okay, he's okay.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yeah, wow, yeah, no, I'll never forget that either. I
also text and but exactly like you. You know, obviously
I didn't expect anything back in return. But that must
have been so insane that experience.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Even imagine he has a great social conscience, that is,
he does beautiful things about Max is he he cares
deeply about people, and that you know that balance is
well enough to sort of mitigate any harshness he might have.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, what is one of your proudest moments on the show?
Speaker 2 (31:14):
That ji.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Was that intense? That was hard.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
It was intense, It was hard, It was beautiful. That
song was beautiful, and it sort of it came out
of it wasn't my original plan. Member was Our most
memorable year was that dance. And I had a number
of choices. One of my obviously my most memorable year
was you know, I wanted to dance to my father
(31:40):
had passed away when I was eleven, and then I
found out the truth of how he died when I
was in my forties. I had been told he died
of a stroke, but I later found out he died
by suicide with a gun. And so I wanted to
do that, and the producers came to me and said,
you can't do that. Someone Catherine is dancing to her
father who just recently passed, And I was like, oh, great,
so it's a test now. Well, then the next best
(32:02):
thing was I gave birth to a premature child who's
now here and they went no, no, no, no, Sherry's doing that.
Jesus Christ. Okay, I broke my back and I'm here
and they went fingo. Nobody else has done that yet.
So it just sort of it sort of we stumbled
(32:23):
into it. But it turned out to be my favorite dance.
It was. It was so lyrical and so much fun
and so freeing and I felt really confident and comfortable.
I mean, Max was laughing at me while we were
doing it on the show because I was screaming and
hooting and hollering through the whole dance.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
I saw that I was wondering if he was yelling
at you or what was happening.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Me looking and going hell, yeah, this is so much fun.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Oh my god, I love it. Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
You guys had some You had a special partnership the
two of you. You know, when it comes to chemistry,
you either have it or you don't. It's really black
and white like that, and you guys definitely had You
could see on the floor your expression through movement was
very much respect for one another, but also a challenge
as well. Yeah, so it was beautiful to watch.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
When it comes to body image, and I guess for
someone like me who goes through every day right of
just what I see in the mirror doesn't necessarily what
is what everyone sees. And then being raised as a
as a dancer since I was four and literally growing
out of my ballet tights and having to not having to,
(33:36):
I chose to move on to ballroom. But with that,
you know, weight has always been something of, I guess
an issue, but within the dance community in a way
because I am curvy, right, what is your advice for
women who struggle with who are maybe only a size
for but feel the need to be a size zero
(33:57):
or two when they want to be in the end
entertainment industry. It's like and maybe physically like I don't
there's nothing I could do. I couldn't shave my hips off,
like even if I want. I mean I bet you
you could, but like I would never do that. No,
But like you know, it's a struggle.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
I know it is a struggle. And when I hear
you say size four, my first thought was, those are
the days. Wow, I remember size four passed that a
while back. Menopause is fun, by the way.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
I think I'm going through paramedopause. Actually I must be
I feel it. I'm thirty nine. Yeah it could be.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
It could be.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yeah, I got my period when I was nine.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah, it could be. It could very well be. Your
doctor tell you. I you know. I. I remember when
I was a little girl, little little little girl, my
mother went to the ballet and Margot Fontaine and Rudolf
Narree were dancing Romeo and Juliet, and for some reason
they came back to our house. I don't know why,
(34:56):
with the whole like the whole ballet company came to
our house and my mother I remember her coming home
from the ballet in the middle of the night and
freaking out because Margot Fonteine only ate steak and grapefruit,
and her steak was frozen, and she put wit, what
steak and grapefruit?
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Frozen steak?
Speaker 2 (35:13):
No, it wasn't fru My mom had a frozen steak
and she was panicked because she had to cook the
steak for Margot Fonteine. And she had great fruit because
my mom mad grapeful every morning. So she put the
steak in the dryer and tumbled it until it was
defrosted so she could cook it for Margot Fonteinne. And
I remember thinking I must have been five years old
thinking steak and grapefruit. That's not that's not that's not okay.
(35:40):
And to think about a woman at then, and then
that the eating stuff is so ingrained. It goes all
the way back to a premium ballerina from the nineteen
fifties and sixties. It's no surprise that there are these
issues out there. I will tell you from my own
personal I just had this thing happen where I I
(36:06):
was looking at some pictures of a couple of my
contemporaries at like Paris Fashion Week or something to me
more in particular, who is stunningly beautiful, always in great shape.
She looks so elegant, and it really sort of and
she's tiny tiny, And I am not anymore. It's just
the fact of life. I'm healthy, i feel great, but
(36:28):
I'm not tiny tiny. And I went and I sat
with my doctor, my actually my guy to collegists. We
were talking about my hormones and menopause and all this
stuff in my postmenopausal now and she said to me,
she said, well, do you want to spend three hours
every day in the gym because you could be that
same size or is there something else you'd rather do
(36:49):
with your time, And I said, yeah, I'd rather go
play with my grandkids. She said, well there's your answer.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
And then another thing just happened to me too. I
was walking on the street with some friends and I
was walking past windows and I looked at my reflection
and my first thought was Jesus gained weight. And I
walked by another window and I did it again. And
then I started to feel bad about myself, and I thought, Okay,
how am I going to fix this? And I thought,
I know, I'm going to stop looking at my reflection
in the window right now, right.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
I mean, that seems so obvious, but it's not that obvious.
I mean, especially as a dancer, you're only seeing your reflection.
You have, first of all, since I was a little girl.
There's mirrors everywhere now dance studio. You can't actually do
it with I mean you can, but you need to
see what you're doing. You need to see how you're
executing a step, and then the comparison happens. Right then
(37:40):
you compare, and then you know one girl can do
the sw so one girl's legs are longer. I'll never
forget one of my dance coaches was like he literally
looked in two sounds so bad. He literally looked into
getting my legs elongated by breaking the hips. Okay, you'd
have to break your hips in order, so I guess
they do this in Asia, Like not all, but like
(38:02):
there is a procedure done in Asia where they break
their hips to elongate their legs about two to three inches,
and you have to learn how to walk walk again. Basically.
Isn't that insanity?
Speaker 2 (38:14):
That's that's that's insane.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Yeah, that's I mean, I'm just laughing because it's so uncomfortable.
But yes, I mean, like imagine so like and that
I'm in my teens when this is all happening, I realized, Okay, yes,
my tour show is longer than my legs, Like it's
always been like an issue. So I always have to
wear the three and a half inch the letto heel
to elongate my legs, and then my costumes have to
you know, hide, my costumes have to be high on
the hip so that my legs look longer. Like there's
(38:38):
so many ways to kind of manipulate right the body,
so that and then when you're on TV, the camera
adds ten pounds. Then you're half naked, and if I
have a fat roll in my back while I'm settling
my hip into the ground, it's a problem.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
You know, it is a problem, and it's it's crazy
making it really is it is.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
It is damage. And so how I guess now moving forward?
How did you move forward? How did you like? I
understand you left La, and I mean, I'm sure it
helps a lot that you have a supporting and loving husband.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
It does, that makes that does make a huge difference.
He was there every time I said something like I
think I want to get my implants removed permanently. He went,
do let's go, let's go get him out, Let's go
find a surgeon. They're out. And then when I said,
I think I'm going to stop coloring my hair and
let it go, great, Yes, let's do it. Let's see
what it looks like. So that definitely is helpful. I
(39:36):
probably would have done all of this anyway. There was
a moment where I looked at myself in the mirror
and I had, you know, my eyebrows were overly arched
from botok, my lips were just a little too big.
I did I looked like I looked like, oh, I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
I looked like I just call him dancer, no kidding,
constantly curious, yeah, constantly cure, Oh my goodness, constantly have
a question on your face like yeah here.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
And that's it. There's no other expression, there's no sorrow.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
You look beautiful. I love that. I love this, I
really do. I love do you? I mean? AJ was
just on AJ MacLean was one of my dance partners
from the Backstreet Boys, and he talks about how he's
actually got a lot done when it recently when it
comes to certain things that he was insecure about that
I had no idea about when we were dancing together,
Like he got like some of his I guess something.
(40:28):
I don't know. I don't know specifically, but like even
men go through this. Joey Fatone was just on People
magazine saying men get work done. To Pamela Anderson, another
former contestant on Dancing with the Stars is promoting just
like a bare face was in the front row of
Paris sitting in Paris Fashion Week, which is amazing coming
from like a sex goddess that she was labeled as,
you know when I was a teenager to like just
(40:51):
totally owning her own beauty. What do you think about
the three people I just mentioned.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
I think to each his own. I think you're not
damn yourself or hurting anybody else. You can do whatever
you need to do to feel good in your own skin.
I will tell you this. Yesterday I was on Instagram
and I saw your You had a little brief thing
about talking to Louis Louie, and you had no makeup on.
(41:19):
You had a baseball hat on, and your freckles were showing,
and I just thought you looked absolutely adorable. I love
your freckles. I I wish I still had my freckles.
My freckles all migrated to my shoulders are going to
all be on my hips, and then when I'm in
(41:40):
my ages, They're just gonna be on my feet.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
I used to get bullied for my freckles, so I
can't wait till they migrate to my shoulders.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
I totally understand. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm known for being
a freckle face.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
I just think, I mean, I just.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
It's so much less work now you see no freckles.
You know how long this took?
Speaker 2 (41:59):
I know, No, I do, I totally do, and I
at this age now, Cheryl want to be sixty in May?
Speaker 1 (42:06):
And I wait, your tourist. I am May third, may
a stop ya, That's why I love you.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
Okay, okay, see there you go. And Tom burcher On's
a tourist too, Yes he is. He's May seventh, I think, yep,
May sixth six. That's right, that's right, that's right. We
all had birthdays that week and I got sent home
on my birthday.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Oh that was a great birthday gift. No, you know
what it.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Actually was, because it was starting to get a little
wild out there.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
I was kind of yeah, oh my goodness. Okay, I
have a lot of fan questions for you, and then
we're going to play this game called rapid Fire that
we normally do at the end of every interview. So okay,
the only person who has actually done the rapid Fire
(42:55):
the way it needs to be done is A J. MacLean,
because everyone like, especially Max, like he just continued, I'm like,
it's rapid fire.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Maxmever, I watched I know, oh.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Yeah you did. At Kathleen Reed, Kyoe asks my favorite
episode is the Blizzard. How hard was it filming those
scenes as a child?
Speaker 2 (43:15):
It wasn't really all that hard to shoot that because
we were on a sound stage, so it wasn't cold
or anything. It was all faced. It was hot if anything.
But I was really antsy because my sister was born
while we were shooting that. I was eleven years old
and my baby sister was born, and all I wanted
to do was go home and play with the baby.
(43:36):
I really don't want to be there. That was the
hardest part of shooting the blizzard.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
That's so funny. You have eleven year age gap me
and my half sister. We have a nine year age gap.
I felt I feel the same way, like I feel
like I'm her mother.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Basically, she was my first baby. I tell people that
I made them put her nursery next to my room
so I could get up in the middle of the
night with her.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Oh my god. Same. I always tell my sister jokingly,
I'm like, I'm I breast I do basically Okay, she goes,
that's disgusting, And at marmarole mill okay, a lot of
m's Do you still dance? And why did you move
to where you are now?
Speaker 2 (44:14):
I don't dance, I mean I dance, I go dancing.
We do. We do have a lot of dance parties
in our house. My husband like that. Yeah, we just
we we have like one of us will go dance
break and well the music will be We're just jumping
around the house, which is really really fun. I I
(44:35):
don't though I don't go to class. I did go
to ballet quite a bit when I moved to New York.
There's a ballet studio right around the corner from our
apartment in the city steps on Broadway on the Upper
West Side. So I went back to like an old
Lady Malley class, which I involved, and then COVID hit,
so I had to find, you know, alternatives. But I do.
(44:59):
I exercise regularly and I just try to stay as
healthy as I can. And this is something I do
out of sheer joy.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Now great, Yeah, I hope to get there one day.
Why did you move to where you are living now?
Was the second question.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
First, we moved to Michigan because when I met Tim,
my husband, he was living in Michigan, which is the
state where he's from. And so when he said to me,
you know, I'm really into you, and that's great, but
the problem is I live in Michigan. I was so
ready to leave La. I wanted to go somewhere where
I could age and not feel bad about it, and
just figure out who the rest of me was and
(45:36):
what I wanted to be in this last third of
my life. So we were in Michigan for five years
and it really it just sort of centered me so
much so that when it came time to go back
to work and start doing theater again and Tim was
directing again, the move to New York City seemed the
next logical choice. And then we're the city for a bit.
We still have a place there, but we had to
(45:58):
get out too, because we're kind of country people. So
we bought our place up in the woods and that's
where we are most of the time.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Do you have a bigger dog now, because I remember
in your book you gave your dog away because you
moved to the city.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Oh yeah, Oh no, we have a big We have
a bigger dog now too. We have Chicago is a
lab mix rescue. And then we have Snance, who's a
baby four month old Australian shepherd.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Oh my god, those are beautiful.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Yeah. She's a beauty and so smart. She's really smart.
She learned to sit and shake and down in like
five minutes when she was like twelve weeks old.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
I just have a French bulldog. I mean, she's smart.
For her brain it must be so tiny, but she
already knows how to manipulate me. So that's pretty smart.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
I had one of those two, Josephine. I wrote about her,
and you'll hear about her in the book.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
She was yeah, okay. At Anne Marie thirty five asks
what was your most favorite job and.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
Why does it have to be a paid job?
Speaker 1 (46:57):
No, I guess not.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
I like grandma the most. Actually, I really like being Nana.
It's just so much fun. It's so I'm so relaxed
now because I'm not their parents, and it's just my
job to say yes all the time. And I just
you know, they kissed me on my lips and it
makes my day, and I'm with them and I play
(47:19):
with them and then I can give them back and
go to sleep.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
I love that. That sounds wonderful.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
It's great. It's the whole reason for having children. Actually.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Yeah. At Leelu Foote asks what was the best advice
that Michael Landon ever gave you?
Speaker 2 (47:34):
He mostly taught me by by example. One of the
things he insisted that we do as kids on the
show was to have an appreciation for everybody else's job.
So I had to actually follow people around to learn
what their jobs were, everyone from craft service to the
greensmen to grips and electrics, so that I never thought
that what I did was more important than anybody else.
(47:55):
And it, Wow, it really gave me a sense of
of collaboration. And you know, this business we're in is
very collaborative, and so as a consequence of that, I'm
very collaborative when I work.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
I love that so much. That's such a great lesson.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
At last one at Bouffani nineteen sixty two asks do
you think that pros and producers of Dancing with the
Stars handle contestants who are older differently or expect different
things out of them physically? Definitely not physically, because you
were on a whole other level.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
I didn't. I there was no I did nothing different
than anybody else.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
No, that's for damn sure.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
So I don't think. So maybe there are others. I mean,
I would imagine when Clarus Leachman was on, there was expectation.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
So are you watching this season?
Speaker 2 (48:45):
I'm occasionally I'm recapping.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
So Barry is still in it, and I still think,
I mean, I think I'm rooting for him and Pete
right now. I actually I just hope that like I
can see, he kind of tenses up and freezes sometimes.
But like like you, I was like, why aren't they
giving her like a Viennese wall, So like I feel
like you got all the Latin dances in, you know,
and you very rarely got to like live in the
(49:08):
moment so much when it comes to like the slower
styles of dance. And the same thing with poor Barry
last week. He's seen the quick step, but I could tell,
like the last thing you wanted to he's a dancer.
I mean, this guy can dance, and he's got so
much natural musicality in his body. But then when you
got to keep him in hold, you know, it's just
not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
Hard and keep staying hold with Max's heart too, because
he's so much taller than me. I mean, I probably
should have asked him danced with Derek because my arms
would have been my shoulders would have been down because
my arms would have been down here as opposed to
right up here.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
On Max write, do you have any advice for someone
like Barry who's still like killing it.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
So proud of him, you know what. It just he's
so authentically him. I just you know, it's just great
to see that. And that's what's coming through.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Is he I think he could be better than Donnie.
Just my my, my take on it all.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
Actually that's a tough call for me because I love clearly.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
I love Donnie too, But there's something about Barry. He's like,
I'm telling you, there's something that when I saw I
saw the musicality that you just can't teach his charisma.
But also Donnie has it's just a different style, right Like,
but I saw him do Latin and I saw him
do his chow chown and I was like, oh mg,
this guy is really he's great. He's really good. Okay,
(50:27):
Rapid Fire, who do you still keep in touch with
to this day? That was a part of your season
on Dancing with the Stars. You okay, great, favorite dance, jive,
Least favorite dance quick step? Oh I thought you're gonna
say positio. Way Okay, No, got injured.
Speaker 2 (50:45):
The quick step is heinous.
Speaker 1 (50:47):
It is disgusting. Most memorable moment with Max.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
My birthday dinner the night weeks home. He took my
entire party of friends out to dinner and and had
ordered a cake and had this giant flower arrangement for me,
picked up the tab when no one was looking. He's
just it was magic.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Just chill, see maxim. If you could dance with anyone
of the pro mail dancers on the show other than Max,
who would it be with? Tony Okay? Who falls in
love first? The pro dancer or the celebrity?
Speaker 2 (51:26):
I don't know. I watched my profile in Lovely so.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Well right, but who do you think if you had
to choose.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
The celebrity?
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Yeah? What is one thing you wish you could have
experienced during your time on the show?
Speaker 2 (51:41):
Go ahead, a little less arguing.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
More peace? What is one thing you wish you could
have experienced during your time on the show? More peace?
Foxtrot versus Viennese waltz, choose.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
One v Andes waltz.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Samba versus Alla.
Speaker 2 (52:02):
Samba.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
That was a tree did a great one? Yeah it was.
You had the two Schmirkowskis on You had the Schmirkowsky sandwich. Yes,
I did Chatcha versus jive ji. In one word, describe
the late Len Goodman, gentlemen. In one word, describe Bruno
tonio le fiery in one word, describe Krie Ana Naba.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
Uh shiney light, I just I see light coming from.
Speaker 1 (52:33):
In one word, describe but your friend Tom berjn Brother
in one word. Describe your time on the show rewarding
in one word, describe Max.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
Uh I have two can think of his love and challenge.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
In one word. Describe what the word beauty means to
you today my grandkids. Oh, and last one, in one word,
who is to Gilbert today?
Speaker 2 (53:02):
Nana?
Speaker 1 (53:03):
I love it? Thank you so much, Melissa. This was
so fun, This was so much fun. Where can people
find you? And are you working on any I mean
you're working on so much, but like on anything new
as far as like the entertainment industry goes. Oh, are
you just focusing on you?
Speaker 2 (53:18):
There's a lot of stuff sort of brewing. Next year
is the fiftieth anniversary of Little House on the Prairie.
Oh wow, fifty years. And so there's a big festival
in SeeMe Valley in March, and there's a bunch of
other things that are kind of brewing that I have
my hand in, but nothing solid. Can really say anything yet.
And of course there's Modern Prairie. So there's the Modern
Prairie app, which you are on, and then there's Modern
(53:40):
Prairie dot com. And we're getting ready for all of
our holiday stuff and our holiday workshops.
Speaker 1 (53:47):
And I just bought two puzzles from your mar Modern
Prairie dot com. You have no idea. I'm a fellow
arts and craftswoman. I don't think you understand. And I've
been baking. I'm going to try your pumpkin pie with
gender snap us too. I printed it out.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
It's a good one. It's a good one. It's yeah,
enjoy that. Thank you for Thanksgiving too, And so that's
kind of that's kind of it right now. There's always
a lot, Yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
What is your website and your Instagram and social media handles?
Speaker 2 (54:18):
My Instagram is uh I think Melissa Gilbert Official is
my Instagram and it's www dot Modern Prairie dot com.
And then you can download the apps from there or
at the app store. It's the Modern Prairie app for
Google or Android. And I think that's sort of Oh,
Modern Prairie has its own Instagram too. Modern Prairie our
(54:40):
official Modern Prairie.
Speaker 1 (54:42):
Thank you so much for all that you do. Again,
thank you. This was so fun and thanks for making
the time sure.
Speaker 2 (54:49):
Thanks for having me on. This was lovely.
Speaker 1 (54:51):
Make sure you guys follow us at sex Lies and
spray tands on our Instagram handle and make sure your comment.
Let me know who you want me to interview. What
do you all think? Let me know
This is Sex Lies and Spray Tans with Me Cheryl
Burke and iHeartRadio podcast. Hey guys, welcome to Sex Lies
and Spray Tans. We've got an incredible guest today on
the show. She is an actor, producer, podcaster, and you
probably know our best for her role as Laura Ingalls
Wilder on House on the Prairie. She's graced the screens
(00:23):
for nearly fifty years and got her Hollywood Star Walk
of Fame in nineteen eighty five and spent four years
as the President of the Screen Actors Guild. In two
thousand and nine. Our guests also opened up with her
struggle with alcoholism in her autobiography, Prairie Tale, a memoir.
I'm actually currently listening to it. It's pretty good. What
I admire most about our next guest the most is
(00:43):
how unspoken she is and has been about sexual abuse
in her line of work, and how she has taken
on the pressure of aging in Hollywood. On a lighter note,
she is a fellow arts and craftswoman. That's right. If
anyone knows me, they know I love me some arts
and crafts. Eh. In all seriousness, though, I thought we'd
continue the import conversation when it comes to body image
with someone who has been a huge advocate and powerful
(01:05):
voice on this subject. My guest has been vocal about
her experiences with feeling the need to look a certain way,
especially in the entertainment industry, and by continuing to tell
her story, she's been a huge inspiration to me and
many as she embraces and doesn't shy away from her authenticity.
She quotes the idea that we're trying to teach people
to be afraid of Aging is a mistake, Aging is
(01:27):
a gift. I like to say, I'm aging gratefully. It's
exhausting keeping up that kind of facade, she said. So
she stopped it, all the injections, the hair dye, the
red carpets, and moved away from Hollywood to upstate New York,
where she lives a slow and intentional cabin dwelling life. Clearly,
her vulnerability is powerful, and I know so many of
you will relate to her as I can definitely say
(01:48):
that I do as well. After all, she's made it
the mission of Modern Prairie, her lifestyle brand, to empower
and connect older women as she builds the community of
people whose intention is to embrace their age without feeling
the need to live a material, realistic life of vanity.
My guest has redefined beauty today, and of course let's
not forget her dancing skills. As one of the celebrity
contestants on Dancing with the Stars season fourteen who danced
(02:10):
with fan favorite Maxim Schmerkowsky, I recently received a DM
from her saying, I've been following you on Instagram and
you are so brave, so strong, so authentically you. Proud
of you. Also as an actor, you gave me the
only note I ever got on that show that I
could really sink my teeth into. In our group number,
you said to Max, just tell her to dance arrogantly
changed everything. Please welcome my friend Melissa Gilbert to the show.
(02:35):
Hi Melissa, Oh my goodness, thank you so much for
coming on the pod. But you know, honestly, I just
have done so much research on you, especially obviously lately
because obvious for obvious reasons, but also I am so
intrigued by all that you've done and for how strong
and inspirational you are as a woman, and how you've
(02:58):
been such an advocate for you know, beauty, and how
it's defined and just being an open book. So thank
you for all that you've done and do.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Thank you so much. You know, when we were working together,
there was so little time for anybody to have a
conversation that we barely even got to know each other
at all. So I'm really glad that we at least
have this chance to talk. And now that we're.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Kissed again, yes, well, you know we can have a
we can have a newfound friendship because I definitely I've
also downloaded. I just told you I'm listening to your audible,
but I'm also I'm on that app now, the Modern
Prairie app. Oh, because you know it's so important to
you know, maybe you just tell my listeners a little
(03:41):
bit about modern Prairie. I mean, I wasn't going to
start there, but let's just start there because it's so
useful and it's something that we need as women, you know,
to create a community, because you know, I'm I moved
out of la as well. I'm still in California, but
I definitely feel the need to create or be a
part of one.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, it is. It's very important. And I'll tell you
I'm way ahead of you in years and as we
age we go through so many extraordinary changes, and there's
such a tendency for people to all our lives, generally
as women, to pigeonhole us and kind of put us
in the corner, so to speak. And as we get older,
you'll find that people tend to either think, you know,
(04:21):
oh there goes that crazy old lady. Don't talk to her,
or oh she's hute. Look how sweet that little old
lady is. They totally underestimate the strength our knowledge.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yes, I couldn't agree more. I mean, there's also so
many questions because, like you know, certain things are not
talked about when it comes to metapause, for example, Yeah,
I guess so.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And I think that's part of the reason we created
my partner, Nicole Hasey, who is a genius, my business partner,
and she's the CEO or co founders of Modern Prairie.
One of the reasons we did that was we wanted
to create a space where women could talk to other
women safely, yes, constantly, and about all of this stuff
and all of the things that we're dealing with. Aging
parents is a big one. I'm going through to I
(05:04):
have one parent left, and my mom left, and she
doesn't have dementia or anything. But she had a health
scare last year and it was a real wake up
call for my sister and me and my kids and
the grandkids. And I'm sure and that's sort of part
of life. And I find one of the things that
women do really, really well is we don't do tiny talk.
We get no.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
I hate small talk.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I can't handle it. I guess why. I don't like
going to cocktail parties and like covering with people I
don't know. I don't have time. I want to talk
about the good stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yes, yes, yes, like let's get down and dirty. So
speaking of this is a great transition. Well thank you
for doing that, by the way, because I plan on
just continuing on and slowly. You know, I suffer from
social anxiety, as I know you do as well, or
you did, so it's it's but since this pandemic, I
guess too, it's like we've found other ways of communicating
(05:56):
without having to be in person, you know, And I
think maybe it's more of that. My therapist said to
me recently that I am more vulnerable actually via zoom
than I am in person, which is great because now
I don't have to drive all the way to La
and go into her office. You know, like we're just
we're having a zoom relationship.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
That's fantastic. Listen, whatever it takes. Yeah, exactly, A proponent
of therapy.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
So good on you, thank you, thank you. Okay, so
let's rewind. So you started in this business at such
a young age. I'm your a young age. So how
are you still saying.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I'm not that's the key. I'm the good kind of crazy, though, I.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Think, yes, yes, you're not crazy at all.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I started when I was two, clearly not a conscious
decision on my part. But I grew up in a
family full of show business people. My father was an actor, singer, dancer,
stand up comic. He started out as an acrobat in
the circus as a child, so he had that in
him his parents. His mother was a trapeze artist from France.
(07:01):
His father was an Irish fadvillian. My mother was an actress.
My grandfather, her father was a very famous comedy writer.
He created The Honeymooners. He wrote Our Dee Martin and
Jerry Lewis. He he used to write punch up jokes
for John F. Kennedy when he was president.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, so it's in my family. Fortunately for me, I'm
adopted too, and I was born of people with musical
and you know, performing, a performing family, and then given
to a family of performers.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
So right, so you were meant to be here.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Absolutely, this is this is my this is my world.
And you know, it just seemed my mom had family,
we had family friends who would look at me and say,
you know, she should be doing commercials, she should be
doing commercials. So my mom would say to my dad,
I don't think so, and he'd say, well, I did
you just try it. So they just tried it, and
it stuck. And I did a lot of commercials and
(07:58):
then you know, started doing little here and there, but
nothing major because they didn't want me out of school.
And then On the Prairie came along, and it was
my mom's favorite books and my favorite book. I'd read
at least two of them at that point in school.
So it was sort of a we've got to see
if this old. Yeah, and that's right.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
That's a great I mean it sounds I mean a
little bit with my my mother. I mean I come
from the original dance mom. So it was like ballet, ballroom, anything,
you know, anything in the arts, and thank God for
her for that because I wasn't great at school.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
You know, I was, oddly enough. I liked school. I've
always been a bit of an overachiever and I pushed
myself really, really hard. So you know, it's no surprise
I started getting migraines when I was eight.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Oh really?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Oh yeah? Oh yeah, say more?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Was that more of the mental health side of things.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Or it may well have been. I don't know that
I was clocking it. I don't I know that I
wasn't clocking it at the time. I mean, I you know,
we all have trauma, and of course I had my share.
My parents divorced when I was six. My father died
when I was eleven, so you know, I've walked through
a lot of stuff. But I put a lot of
(09:11):
pressure on myself to be the best, and I was
so competitive. I was given dance class. I started dance
to it too while I was acting. So yeah, this
myth that that most of the people who are on
Dancing with the Stars have zero dance experience.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Oh please, why would you sign up for a show
if you had zero dance experience?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I just want to know I got especially that show
you've got to be. I mean you got to.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I mean in a way though, don't you think. I mean,
we'll get there. We'll get there. But like, when did
you When did you start to feel the pressures of Hollywood,
you know, like of the vanity side of things.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I really started to feel it when I hit puberty.
And you know, at the same time that I hit puberty,
my character on the show was falling in love with
the man who would become her husband. And and on
the show, I mean, in real life, Laura Ingleswilder got
married at I believe it was sixteen seventeen. I was
my character and I was that age and I wasn't
even dating yet. I mean, it really something that would
(10:14):
never be filmed today too, because my leading man, God
love him, was like a man. He was in his twenties.
He drove a car.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Oh wow, he was.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I don't know how we pulled all of that off.
But yeah, as I hit puberty and then into adolescence,
that's when it became Oh her nose is too wide,
Oh her boobs are too small. Oh she's gaining weight.
Let's put her on a diet.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
They would say that to you.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, put me on a diet. Put me in a corset,
put me in a padded bra, Let's get your nose done.
It was sort of like this is just the way
things are done. And I sort of feel like I
came in at the tail end of like a weird
Hollywood studio system, Like I was the last one that
was molded, sort of because my sister came after me
(10:59):
and did and she's just her, She's always been her,
She's been allowed to be her. I sort of felt
like I was sort of the last I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, let me mold you into what you think that
you need to be or whatever that person needs you
to be.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
How did rough message for a teenage girl? Oh, thinking
that you're enough at that age, it really sets you
up for a lot of problems later. And I'll tell you,
I look at pictures of myself back then. I wish
i'd know I had. I was in great I had
a great physique. I was healthy, I was strong. I
danced almost five days a week. I was in the gym,
(11:35):
I played football with boys. I was like I was
a combination of a ballerine and a tomboy.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I love it. I love it. We have a lot
in common, you know, I feel the same way. You know,
I literally grew out of my tights when I was
eleven years old because I actually hit puberty when I
was nine. And you know, I think that happens because
due to the sexual abuse I dealt with when I
was a little girl. And you know, supposedly, they they say,
(12:02):
statistics say that when young girls go through sexual abuse
at a young age, they develop a lot faster. And
so that's when I actually, yeah, so that I had
the same body as I do now than I did
back when I was nine.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I didn't. I didn't. I wish I had that body now,
but I I you know, I at that time it
just wasn't good enough. It wasn't my chest was too flat,
my legs were too muscular. I just wasn't feminine enough.
I was more of you know, I danced like a dude.
Actually it was more of a jumper than a floater.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Well, I'm sure it was beautiful. And I just watched
all of your dances on Dancing with the Stars, and
you were that was some hard choreography, Maxim Schmerkowsky. I
mean that was really hard. What he gave you.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
He didn't, he didn't, he didn't give me a break
ever at all, not for not for a moment.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
I mean, we know Max, I would be shocked if
he did.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
No, I know, and I was, you know, I was
in a really interesting place emotionally at that time too,
because I had just come out of a a I
was just going through it, finishing up a divorce of
a relationship that had been twenty years and in a
marriage that had been not great and for the last
(13:21):
several years where I really kind of put myself in
the background to make myself smaller to make him feel bigger,
which is something that so many women do that.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I do that a lot.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yes, terrible, I don't know. That's like the biggest therapy
thing that I had to go through. And so I
was just coming out of that, and I just found
my voice and I was going kind of the opposite direction.
So I had super Voice and that did not mix
well with super.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Max thought at all. Sorry, I just laughing because like
every time you explain part of your story, I can
relate so much to it. But yes, no, Super Voice
and super Max don't get along.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Oh it just I mean, and we loved each other dearly,
just clashed constantly, and I mean there there was. It
was just so dramatic. There were so many taking off
microphones and leaving the room coming down, and you're not
following me with the damn camera. Get out of my face, Max,
go away, you know, And thank god there were other
(14:23):
people around. They got for Val and Tonal and Peta
because they were falling in love then too.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Oh right, remember, yes, thank god, yes, because you could
go home to Petera and then hopefully be you know,
happier the next day at.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Least a moment or two. And then yeah, I was
in to rehearsal, it would just start again. What's wrong with?
What's wrong with you?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Were you trained for this though in a way, because
like you said, you went through dance experience. You had
some dance experience, but like obviously I don't know if
it was was a ballet that you were involved in.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, I had a Russian ballet who danced. I mean
we had she had a big stick and she'd hit
us in the I remember Popo Flett. She'd hit us
in the ass.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
That would not fly today, no, not at all.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
But other than that, I mean, uh, I think I
put most like I said, I put most of the
pressure in myself, so I had to be the best
one in the class at all times. And that was
a struggle for me because I came into Dancing with
the Stars clearly not the best one in the class
and one of the oldest ones there. And my body
just didn't do what it used to do.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
But that's because you went through a broken You had
a broken back prior. Was it prior or was it after?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
It was prior? I had broken my back before, which
is why that jive we did was to celebrate my
back healing. Really fantastic. Yeah, that's you know, the whole
reason I did the show is to prove to myself
that I could do it after breaking my back, and
(15:59):
I did it, and then you did and ended up
having to have next surgery a couple of years later,
and another next surgery a couple of years after that.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So here you go. But dancing is healing other than that, Oh.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
No, it's great. It's the gift that keeps up giving.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I mean really, I mean, like you know, like you
said when you when you met your now husband, you know,
I think a residentwhere where you were like in the
best shape. But more importantly though, we know that that
happens on a physical level. I think it's more about
the mental level, mental health level, right, Like, you know,
I just had Lacey Swimmer on. I'm not sure if
you know Lacey. She was a former pro dancer.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I met her once, I believe, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
And I actually just had Louison prior to this interview.
And you know, we talk a lot about body image
and especially in the industry, the dance industry, but now
the dance industry, in the Hollywood industry, you know. So
it's like it's almost like it's not a double whamy.
I don't want to speak negatively, because you know that's
not It has given me so much joy and it
(17:00):
has helped me, you know, deal and just in general
just get through some trauma in my life. Absolutely, dancing
has saved my life in so many different ways. But
it has also left the lasting or re traumatized some
things about my own view as well when it comes
to myself, right, like dealing with body dysmorphia. Had you
(17:22):
ever dealt with anything similar?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I think so. I think I don't know that it
went as far as body dysmorphia, but it definitely I
definitely was very insecure about my looks for a really
long time, a really long time. And I wrote in
my book which you're listening to, that being on Dancing
with the Stars sort of it heightened all of that
(17:45):
for me because of you know, it was just it
was the hair extensions and the makeup and the costumes
and the SPRAYTND and you know, little did I know
that the spraytan had a dual purpose aside from Niki duh. Yeah,
after making you look thinner and you know more even tone,
which for me is like a miracle because I'm pasty
(18:07):
white and blue, so that was great. But it covers
up all of bruises.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Right, but it also like bodybuilders as well. Yeah, it
just makes you cut.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Muscles in I know, and the glitter and the oh
my gosh.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Wait speaking of bruises or what what do you mean?
Say more?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I had at one point, after the I believe it
was the Argentine Tango, I had Max's finger marks.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Oh my god. You guys, though, I have to say,
when I was watching all of your dances, like I said,
that was some hard choreography, but you didn't just keep up.
You sold it. I mean, you guys had you told
a story through movement. It was really beautiful to watch,
though I know how agonizing, you know when you the
(18:52):
pain was at the time, and I didn't even see you.
We'll get there, but I never even saw you hit
your head on his leg when that injury happened, and
you got was it a mild concussion or a full
blown concussion?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
It's a full blown concussion. But I hit him with
my neck O that sin it was the drop thing.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
The death drop was literally called a death drop.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, there you go. And I and I actually was
okay for a few minutes there, and then I got
up and we were walking over getting the scores and
I was listening to the judges talk and then all
of a sudden, I just couldn't hear anything like and
I got really dizzy, and I was just sort of
standing there looking at Tom Burcheron, who's been a friend
(19:33):
of mine forever in a day, just staring at Tom like, uh,
something's not right. And then by the time I got
upstairs in the skybox, that was it. That's when that's
when Gavin de Grog came over and said, something's wrong
with you, And I said, yeah, I'm not okay. I
have to get out of here and.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Wow, how okay? So when you say when you described
the ballroom dancing as like yes, spray tand slashes and
all of that, would you say that when you were
in rehearsals, would you have been able to been more
your authentic self? Because I believe that ballroom dancing has
always been the glitter and all of that. But you
(20:12):
can't even get to the glitter until you have the blood,
sweat and tears in rehearsal, right, Like, no one's going
to be getting there as far as I'm concerned, until
you are, until you feel comfortable enough to get and
perform in front of a live audience. But in this
case on Dancing on the Stars, the time is not
on your side. But would you say that that it
was necessary for you at all times during the show
(20:35):
or was it just the performance side of it.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Just a performance in rehearsal. I was, you know, fully
in my own skin, and it was just you know,
there was no other way to be. I mean, I
felt like the rehearsals were so intense and so so
I mean I walked out of every rehearsal just raw
and exhausted. I don't even remember eating when I got home.
(20:58):
I think one night I ate a box of red
hots of candy that was I could do.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
I know it's a survival of the fittest in that sense,
but more of the mental I think sense than physical.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Right, Oh, absolutely it is. I mean it's just it's
constant and there's always something kind of that can go wrong.
And then you know, if you don't speak a language
of choreography for a long time and then you're it's
like learning a whole new language and then all of
a sudden it changes because something has to change. Then
it gets crazy, and then they start adding dances, and
(21:31):
then it just it's it's it's a really emotional roller coaster,
but it does it does leave you with a feeling
that you've accomplished something really incredible.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, no, it does, and then it's crazy. You know,
twenty six seasons. After twenty six seasons of doing it,
it is there is that sense of like, oh my gosh,
you know it's not about winning, right, it's really about
just doing the best that you can at that time.
And after all of the ups and downs, because it's
like when you get saved, you're like, yes, I'm going
(22:04):
through another week that I'm like, oh shit, what am
I going to do next week? You know, so constant
battles like can I ever just stay in the moment
and be happy? No, because I'm always worried about like
what's happening next? How am I going to choreograph or
get my celebrity to dance next week? You know.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, it's hard, it's hard. I remember those days too, thinking, okay, great,
we're through shit. I don't want to be smart. I
need a day off, I can, I need one day.
And also, you know, I have children at home. I
had one Cheers at home. Still, I had a teenager
at home and we were going through a divorce, so
I had a lot of responsibility there too as a
single mom.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Okay, so I remember reading recently a People magazine article
about when you said that for you, when you tried
Pete Murgatroyd's or at the time Margatroit's dance costume on
that you were like you finally were able to fit
into her costume, but knowing that she's like twenty years
younger or something like that. It was you were quoted.
I'm saying it all wrong, most likely, So really.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It was it was actually a really cool feeling. It
was finale. It was for the last, the last episode,
and there was a big group dance and they put
us all in gold, and rather than make costumes all
over again, they tried to get us in other costumes
and they put She pulled one for me and I
put it on and I went, oh, my god, this
fits like a go on. Whose is this and she
said Pete's and they went what.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
What wait.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
My body? This is on me and it fits. I
felt like I had one. I felt like I won.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
I really that was it.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
And of course it did not last maybe two months, but.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
We said though the stress of the show and just
like barely having energy to eat.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
No, I know, it's and emotionally it is an exhausting experience,
it really is. And then the phone calls too though,
you know, me calling producers and going you're not going
to use that footage or you please don't do that.
It just makes Max look like a dick, and it
makes me please don't do it. And they're like, no,
we have to, and I said, no, you don't, you
(24:18):
really don't. This is me. This is like the grown
up me going, you know, with my big super voice.
Now you can't don't do that to him, it's it's
a pressure cooker. And when people pop off, they pop off.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Yeah yeah, I mean and do they listen to you? Nope,
So you're talking about the packages for all my listeners
at the moment, Like, so they film you basically. So
this was back in the day when we had results shows.
So now there's no result shows, but there still is
the live show. But then they do film quite a lot.
I would say it depends on who the showrunner is.
(24:53):
I believe Conrad was the showrunner back in your Seat yep.
So like and the thing is, what he always advocates
is for the reality of the situation of whatever is
happening in the dance studio. And it's I remember, even
from personal experience, like there's certain things that I don't
want to be in the package when it just is
(25:13):
a blip of the actual rehearsal, whether it's like a
fight or like me like rolling my eyes or just
like me trying to cover my mic and say, you know,
there is just there's certain things because like as professional dancers,
we get so invested, especially when we teach specifically pasaobla,
we start to act like the character, right, Like we
get it almost looks like we are either mad or
(25:36):
over it or whatever. But like, and I know Max
since I was a teenager, and I know how intense
he is, and I feel like I'm the same, but
a woman version of him. But like when we do,
you know, teach it is hardcore because that's how we
were trained as kids, you know, And that's us giving
tough love. But then when we give you a great
(25:57):
app like an affirmation, like my love language is definitely
not worth of affirmation, but it is. We mean it,
you know, and we just want the best for our partners.
Did you It seems like you guys had a love
hate relationship.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Right, I don't think. So. Here's the thing I don't
do well being here's a great expression mollycoddled. I don't
like being patronized. I don't like being told I'm doing
great when I'm not doing great. Like to be told
the truth. And I like the challenge. And I definitely
got that with Max. He was brutally honest sometimes and
(26:34):
one of the things one of my reactions to it
was I would burst into tears a lot. And mostly
I was bursting into tears because it was just it
was like these constant epiphanies for me of going, Okay,
I can make it through this. And we're arguing about this,
but then we also it wasn't that we hated each
other so that we challenged each other a ton Yeah.
And I mean the other thing is I love the
(26:58):
idea of earning someone's respect, an admiration, love, and I
got that from him in spades. He was so generous
and so kind and so warm when he needed to be,
and it meant so much more than if he had been,
you know, a squishy love pie the whole time. Although
I could have a little more squishy love pie.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
I have to say, though, I remember Max. Max obviously
is only like that with people he believes in. That's
something I do know that.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
That was one of the things that I knew as well.
And I can't remember who told me that. Somebody else
told me that I.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Want to be Peter Tony or somebody.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Maybe it was Tony. It might have been Tony. Tony
was a Tony was a big help to us when
we would really have a problem and really and yeah,
because I would I would get so crazy that I
would not I would like stop and just Okay, this
is too much. I can't do this right now. I
don't want to talk to anybody. And then Tony would say,
(27:58):
come on, come dance with me.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Oh gosh, and you.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Go through my choreography and go oh oh oh I
got it. Oh great, okay, I love that. Yeah. So
it was it was really it was. It was really
nice being surrounded by all of them. And Val did
the same thing too, because remember Max got injured here
at his foot out, his foot was bugging him, and
so Val had to be ready to step in at yeah,
(28:22):
the last possible minute.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So would you say, would you have Okay, so let's
just say, if you were to ever do Dancing with
the Stars again, but be able to be your authentic self,
no spray tan, no glitter, no lashes, none of it,
would you want to dance with Max if that was
an option still, or would you choose someone else?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I would want to dance with Max. I actually I'll
tell you a little behind the scenes, okay that nobody
really knows.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Give me the tea girl, Give me the tea, the
tea baby.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
When I signed on to do the show, the whole
group took me out to lunch at the Beverly Hills
Hotel and I had been friends with Kirsty Allie and
so when I when I got in the call to
do the show, I called her and she said, you
have to dance with Max. If you can get Max,
you have to dance with Max. He's going to make
you crazy, but you have to do it because he'll
make you better. And so they took me to lunch
(29:14):
at the Beverly Hills Hotel and they said said, do
you have any questions for us? I said, I don't
really have any questions. I have a request. I would
like to dance with Max. And they said, we don't
do that, and I said, I know you don't. I'm
just telling you I want to dance with Max. And
so on the day I showed up to meet my
pro when he walked in the door, my first thought
was hell, yeah, here we go.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
And then how fast was it? When you were like,
hell no, it was.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
About take a few weeks from oh boy, what have
I done now? My favorite thing though, was Max's face
when he looked at me, because, like you when you
interviewed him on this podcast, he had no idea who
I was, no clue. He didn't he'd never seen Little
House in the Prairie, So on the second day rehearsal,
I showed up with a box set of Little House
(30:01):
on the Prairie DVDs for him to watch that. I'm
sure he still hasn't watched.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I'm sure he still has though. Hopefully he's showing his
kids now watching out with his kids.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Oh, there's his kids too.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Oh. Do you guys still keep in touch?
Speaker 2 (30:13):
We don't. On occasion, I talked to him. Every once
in a great while, I'll shoot him a text or something.
I actually texted him when he was in Ukraine when
the war started. I texted him and said, what can
I do? How can I help you get out? Can?
Speaker 1 (30:28):
I is there?
Speaker 2 (30:28):
It? I got you have to we need you home,
don't Yeah? But he didn't answer, which made me nervous.
But then I saw the footage of him come home,
so I thought, Okay, he's okay.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yeah, wow, yeah, no, I'll never forget that either. I
also text and but exactly like you. You know, obviously
I didn't expect anything back in return. But that must
have been so insane that experience.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Even imagine he has a great social conscience, that is,
he does beautiful things about Max is he he cares
deeply about people, and that you know that balance is
well enough to sort of mitigate any harshness he might have.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, what is one of your proudest moments on the show?
Speaker 2 (31:14):
That ji.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Was that intense? That was hard.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
It was intense, It was hard, It was beautiful. That
song was beautiful, and it sort of it came out
of it wasn't my original plan. Member was Our most
memorable year was that dance. And I had a number
of choices. One of my obviously my most memorable year
was you know, I wanted to dance to my father
(31:40):
had passed away when I was eleven, and then I
found out the truth of how he died when I
was in my forties. I had been told he died
of a stroke, but I later found out he died
by suicide with a gun. And so I wanted to
do that, and the producers came to me and said,
you can't do that. Someone Catherine is dancing to her
father who just recently passed, And I was like, oh, great,
so it's a test now. Well, then the next best
(32:02):
thing was I gave birth to a premature child who's
now here and they went no, no, no, no, Sherry's doing that.
Jesus Christ. Okay, I broke my back and I'm here
and they went fingo. Nobody else has done that yet.
So it just sort of it sort of we stumbled
(32:23):
into it. But it turned out to be my favorite dance.
It was. It was so lyrical and so much fun
and so freeing and I felt really confident and comfortable.
I mean, Max was laughing at me while we were
doing it on the show because I was screaming and
hooting and hollering through the whole dance.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
I saw that I was wondering if he was yelling
at you or what was happening.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Me looking and going hell, yeah, this is so much fun.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Oh my god, I love it. Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
You guys had some You had a special partnership the
two of you. You know, when it comes to chemistry,
you either have it or you don't. It's really black
and white like that, and you guys definitely had You
could see on the floor your expression through movement was
very much respect for one another, but also a challenge
as well. Yeah, so it was beautiful to watch.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
When it comes to body image, and I guess for
someone like me who goes through every day right of
just what I see in the mirror doesn't necessarily what
is what everyone sees. And then being raised as a
as a dancer since I was four and literally growing
out of my ballet tights and having to not having to,
(33:36):
I chose to move on to ballroom. But with that,
you know, weight has always been something of, I guess
an issue, but within the dance community in a way
because I am curvy, right, what is your advice for
women who struggle with who are maybe only a size
for but feel the need to be a size zero
(33:57):
or two when they want to be in the end
entertainment industry. It's like and maybe physically like I don't
there's nothing I could do. I couldn't shave my hips off,
like even if I want. I mean I bet you
you could, but like I would never do that. No,
But like you know, it's a struggle.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
I know it is a struggle. And when I hear
you say size four, my first thought was, those are
the days. Wow, I remember size four passed that a
while back. Menopause is fun, by the way.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
I think I'm going through paramedopause. Actually I must be
I feel it. I'm thirty nine. Yeah it could be.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
It could be.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yeah, I got my period when I was nine.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah, it could be. It could very well be. Your
doctor tell you. I you know. I. I remember when
I was a little girl, little little little girl, my
mother went to the ballet and Margot Fontaine and Rudolf
Narree were dancing Romeo and Juliet, and for some reason
they came back to our house. I don't know why,
(34:56):
with the whole like the whole ballet company came to
our house and my mother I remember her coming home
from the ballet in the middle of the night and
freaking out because Margot Fonteine only ate steak and grapefruit,
and her steak was frozen, and she put wit, what
steak and grapefruit?
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Frozen steak?
Speaker 2 (35:13):
No, it wasn't fru My mom had a frozen steak
and she was panicked because she had to cook the
steak for Margot Fonteine. And she had great fruit because
my mom mad grapeful every morning. So she put the
steak in the dryer and tumbled it until it was
defrosted so she could cook it for Margot Fonteinne. And
I remember thinking I must have been five years old
thinking steak and grapefruit. That's not that's not that's not okay.
(35:40):
And to think about a woman at then, and then
that the eating stuff is so ingrained. It goes all
the way back to a premium ballerina from the nineteen
fifties and sixties. It's no surprise that there are these
issues out there. I will tell you from my own
personal I just had this thing happen where I I
(36:06):
was looking at some pictures of a couple of my
contemporaries at like Paris Fashion Week or something to me
more in particular, who is stunningly beautiful, always in great shape.
She looks so elegant, and it really sort of and
she's tiny tiny, And I am not anymore. It's just
the fact of life. I'm healthy, i feel great, but
(36:28):
I'm not tiny tiny. And I went and I sat
with my doctor, my actually my guy to collegists. We
were talking about my hormones and menopause and all this
stuff in my postmenopausal now and she said to me,
she said, well, do you want to spend three hours
every day in the gym because you could be that
same size or is there something else you'd rather do
(36:49):
with your time, And I said, yeah, I'd rather go
play with my grandkids. She said, well there's your answer.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
And then another thing just happened to me too. I
was walking on the street with some friends and I
was walking past windows and I looked at my reflection
and my first thought was Jesus gained weight. And I
walked by another window and I did it again. And
then I started to feel bad about myself, and I thought, Okay,
how am I going to fix this? And I thought,
I know, I'm going to stop looking at my reflection
in the window right now, right.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
I mean, that seems so obvious, but it's not that obvious.
I mean, especially as a dancer, you're only seeing your reflection.
You have, first of all, since I was a little girl.
There's mirrors everywhere now dance studio. You can't actually do
it with I mean you can, but you need to
see what you're doing. You need to see how you're
executing a step, and then the comparison happens. Right then
(37:40):
you compare, and then you know one girl can do
the sw so one girl's legs are longer. I'll never
forget one of my dance coaches was like he literally
looked in two sounds so bad. He literally looked into
getting my legs elongated by breaking the hips. Okay, you'd
have to break your hips in order, so I guess
they do this in Asia, Like not all, but like
(38:02):
there is a procedure done in Asia where they break
their hips to elongate their legs about two to three inches,
and you have to learn how to walk walk again. Basically.
Isn't that insanity?
Speaker 2 (38:14):
That's that's that's insane.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Yeah, that's I mean, I'm just laughing because it's so uncomfortable.
But yes, I mean, like imagine so like and that
I'm in my teens when this is all happening, I realized, Okay, yes,
my tour show is longer than my legs, Like it's
always been like an issue. So I always have to
wear the three and a half inch the letto heel
to elongate my legs, and then my costumes have to
you know, hide, my costumes have to be high on
the hip so that my legs look longer. Like there's
(38:38):
so many ways to kind of manipulate right the body,
so that and then when you're on TV, the camera
adds ten pounds. Then you're half naked, and if I
have a fat roll in my back while I'm settling
my hip into the ground, it's a problem.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
You know, it is a problem, and it's it's crazy
making it really is it is.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
It is damage. And so how I guess now moving forward?
How did you move forward? How did you like? I
understand you left La, and I mean, I'm sure it
helps a lot that you have a supporting and loving husband.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
It does, that makes that does make a huge difference.
He was there every time I said something like I
think I want to get my implants removed permanently. He went,
do let's go, let's go get him out, Let's go
find a surgeon. They're out. And then when I said,
I think I'm going to stop coloring my hair and
let it go, great, Yes, let's do it. Let's see
what it looks like. So that definitely is helpful. I
(39:36):
probably would have done all of this anyway. There was
a moment where I looked at myself in the mirror
and I had, you know, my eyebrows were overly arched
from botok, my lips were just a little too big.
I did I looked like I looked like, oh, I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
I looked like I just call him dancer, no kidding,
constantly curious, yeah, constantly cure, Oh my goodness, constantly have
a question on your face like yeah here.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
And that's it. There's no other expression, there's no sorrow.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
You look beautiful. I love that. I love this, I
really do. I love do you? I mean? AJ was
just on AJ MacLean was one of my dance partners
from the Backstreet Boys, and he talks about how he's
actually got a lot done when it recently when it
comes to certain things that he was insecure about that
I had no idea about when we were dancing together,
Like he got like some of his I guess something.
(40:28):
I don't know. I don't know specifically, but like even
men go through this. Joey Fatone was just on People
magazine saying men get work done. To Pamela Anderson, another
former contestant on Dancing with the Stars is promoting just
like a bare face was in the front row of
Paris sitting in Paris Fashion Week, which is amazing coming
from like a sex goddess that she was labeled as,
you know when I was a teenager to like just
(40:51):
totally owning her own beauty. What do you think about
the three people I just mentioned.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
I think to each his own. I think you're not
damn yourself or hurting anybody else. You can do whatever
you need to do to feel good in your own skin.
I will tell you this. Yesterday I was on Instagram
and I saw your You had a little brief thing
about talking to Louis Louie, and you had no makeup on.
(41:19):
You had a baseball hat on, and your freckles were showing,
and I just thought you looked absolutely adorable. I love
your freckles. I I wish I still had my freckles.
My freckles all migrated to my shoulders are going to
all be on my hips, and then when I'm in
(41:40):
my ages, They're just gonna be on my feet.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
I used to get bullied for my freckles, so I
can't wait till they migrate to my shoulders.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
I totally understand. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm known for being
a freckle face.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
I just think, I mean, I just.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
It's so much less work now you see no freckles.
You know how long this took?
Speaker 2 (41:59):
I know, No, I do, I totally do, and I
at this age now, Cheryl want to be sixty in May?
Speaker 1 (42:06):
And I wait, your tourist. I am May third, may
a stop ya, That's why I love you.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
Okay, okay, see there you go. And Tom burcher On's
a tourist too, Yes he is. He's May seventh, I think, yep,
May sixth six. That's right, that's right, that's right. We
all had birthdays that week and I got sent home
on my birthday.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Oh that was a great birthday gift. No, you know
what it.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Actually was, because it was starting to get a little
wild out there.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
I was kind of yeah, oh my goodness. Okay, I
have a lot of fan questions for you, and then
we're going to play this game called rapid Fire that
we normally do at the end of every interview. So okay,
the only person who has actually done the rapid Fire
(42:55):
the way it needs to be done is A J. MacLean,
because everyone like, especially Max, like he just continued, I'm like,
it's rapid fire.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Maxmever, I watched I know, oh.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Yeah you did. At Kathleen Reed, Kyoe asks my favorite
episode is the Blizzard. How hard was it filming those
scenes as a child?
Speaker 2 (43:15):
It wasn't really all that hard to shoot that because
we were on a sound stage, so it wasn't cold
or anything. It was all faced. It was hot if anything.
But I was really antsy because my sister was born
while we were shooting that. I was eleven years old
and my baby sister was born, and all I wanted
to do was go home and play with the baby.
(43:36):
I really don't want to be there. That was the
hardest part of shooting the blizzard.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
That's so funny. You have eleven year age gap me
and my half sister. We have a nine year age gap.
I felt I feel the same way, like I feel
like I'm her mother.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Basically, she was my first baby. I tell people that
I made them put her nursery next to my room
so I could get up in the middle of the
night with her.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Oh my god. Same. I always tell my sister jokingly,
I'm like, I'm I breast I do basically Okay, she goes,
that's disgusting, And at marmarole mill okay, a lot of
m's Do you still dance? And why did you move
to where you are now?
Speaker 2 (44:14):
I don't dance, I mean I dance, I go dancing.
We do. We do have a lot of dance parties
in our house. My husband like that. Yeah, we just
we we have like one of us will go dance
break and well the music will be We're just jumping
around the house, which is really really fun. I I
(44:35):
don't though I don't go to class. I did go
to ballet quite a bit when I moved to New York.
There's a ballet studio right around the corner from our
apartment in the city steps on Broadway on the Upper
West Side. So I went back to like an old
Lady Malley class, which I involved, and then COVID hit,
so I had to find, you know, alternatives. But I do.
(44:59):
I exercise regularly and I just try to stay as
healthy as I can. And this is something I do
out of sheer joy.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Now great, Yeah, I hope to get there one day.
Why did you move to where you are living now?
Was the second question.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
First, we moved to Michigan because when I met Tim,
my husband, he was living in Michigan, which is the
state where he's from. And so when he said to me,
you know, I'm really into you, and that's great, but
the problem is I live in Michigan. I was so
ready to leave La. I wanted to go somewhere where
I could age and not feel bad about it, and
just figure out who the rest of me was and
(45:36):
what I wanted to be in this last third of
my life. So we were in Michigan for five years
and it really it just sort of centered me so
much so that when it came time to go back
to work and start doing theater again and Tim was
directing again, the move to New York City seemed the
next logical choice. And then we're the city for a bit.
We still have a place there, but we had to
(45:58):
get out too, because we're kind of country people. So
we bought our place up in the woods and that's
where we are most of the time.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Do you have a bigger dog now, because I remember
in your book you gave your dog away because you
moved to the city.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Oh yeah, Oh no, we have a big We have
a bigger dog now too. We have Chicago is a
lab mix rescue. And then we have Snance, who's a
baby four month old Australian shepherd.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Oh my god, those are beautiful.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Yeah. She's a beauty and so smart. She's really smart.
She learned to sit and shake and down in like
five minutes when she was like twelve weeks old.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
I just have a French bulldog. I mean, she's smart.
For her brain it must be so tiny, but she
already knows how to manipulate me. So that's pretty smart.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
I had one of those two, Josephine. I wrote about her,
and you'll hear about her in the book.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
She was yeah, okay. At Anne Marie thirty five asks
what was your most favorite job and.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
Why does it have to be a paid job?
Speaker 1 (46:57):
No, I guess not.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
I like grandma the most. Actually, I really like being Nana.
It's just so much fun. It's so I'm so relaxed
now because I'm not their parents, and it's just my
job to say yes all the time. And I just
you know, they kissed me on my lips and it
makes my day, and I'm with them and I play
(47:19):
with them and then I can give them back and
go to sleep.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
I love that. That sounds wonderful.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
It's great. It's the whole reason for having children. Actually.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Yeah. At Leelu Foote asks what was the best advice
that Michael Landon ever gave you?
Speaker 2 (47:34):
He mostly taught me by by example. One of the
things he insisted that we do as kids on the
show was to have an appreciation for everybody else's job.
So I had to actually follow people around to learn
what their jobs were, everyone from craft service to the
greensmen to grips and electrics, so that I never thought
that what I did was more important than anybody else.
(47:55):
And it, Wow, it really gave me a sense of
of collaboration. And you know, this business we're in is
very collaborative, and so as a consequence of that, I'm
very collaborative when I work.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
I love that so much. That's such a great lesson.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
At last one at Bouffani nineteen sixty two asks do
you think that pros and producers of Dancing with the
Stars handle contestants who are older differently or expect different
things out of them physically? Definitely not physically, because you
were on a whole other level.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
I didn't. I there was no I did nothing different
than anybody else.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
No, that's for damn sure.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
So I don't think. So maybe there are others. I mean,
I would imagine when Clarus Leachman was on, there was expectation.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
So are you watching this season?
Speaker 2 (48:45):
I'm occasionally I'm recapping.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
So Barry is still in it, and I still think,
I mean, I think I'm rooting for him and Pete
right now. I actually I just hope that like I
can see, he kind of tenses up and freezes sometimes.
But like like you, I was like, why aren't they
giving her like a Viennese wall, So like I feel
like you got all the Latin dances in, you know,
and you very rarely got to like live in the
(49:08):
moment so much when it comes to like the slower
styles of dance. And the same thing with poor Barry
last week. He's seen the quick step, but I could tell,
like the last thing you wanted to he's a dancer.
I mean, this guy can dance, and he's got so
much natural musicality in his body. But then when you
got to keep him in hold, you know, it's just
not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
Hard and keep staying hold with Max's heart too, because
he's so much taller than me. I mean, I probably
should have asked him danced with Derek because my arms
would have been my shoulders would have been down because
my arms would have been down here as opposed to
right up here.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
On Max write, do you have any advice for someone
like Barry who's still like killing it.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
So proud of him, you know what. It just he's
so authentically him. I just you know, it's just great
to see that. And that's what's coming through.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Is he I think he could be better than Donnie.
Just my my, my take on it all.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
Actually that's a tough call for me because I love clearly.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
I love Donnie too, But there's something about Barry. He's like,
I'm telling you, there's something that when I saw I
saw the musicality that you just can't teach his charisma.
But also Donnie has it's just a different style, right Like,
but I saw him do Latin and I saw him
do his chow chown and I was like, oh mg,
this guy is really he's great. He's really good. Okay,
(50:27):
Rapid Fire, who do you still keep in touch with
to this day? That was a part of your season
on Dancing with the Stars. You okay, great, favorite dance, jive,
Least favorite dance quick step? Oh I thought you're gonna
say positio. Way Okay, No, got injured.
Speaker 2 (50:45):
The quick step is heinous.
Speaker 1 (50:47):
It is disgusting. Most memorable moment with Max.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
My birthday dinner the night weeks home. He took my
entire party of friends out to dinner and and had
ordered a cake and had this giant flower arrangement for me,
picked up the tab when no one was looking. He's
just it was magic.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Just chill, see maxim. If you could dance with anyone
of the pro mail dancers on the show other than Max,
who would it be with? Tony Okay? Who falls in
love first? The pro dancer or the celebrity?
Speaker 2 (51:26):
I don't know. I watched my profile in Lovely so.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Well right, but who do you think if you had
to choose.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
The celebrity?
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Yeah? What is one thing you wish you could have
experienced during your time on the show?
Speaker 2 (51:41):
Go ahead, a little less arguing.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
More peace? What is one thing you wish you could
have experienced during your time on the show? More peace?
Foxtrot versus Viennese waltz, choose.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
One v Andes waltz.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Samba versus Alla.
Speaker 2 (52:02):
Samba.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
That was a tree did a great one? Yeah it was.
You had the two Schmirkowskis on You had the Schmirkowsky sandwich. Yes,
I did Chatcha versus jive ji. In one word, describe
the late Len Goodman, gentlemen. In one word, describe Bruno
tonio le fiery in one word, describe Krie Ana Naba.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
Uh shiney light, I just I see light coming from.
Speaker 1 (52:33):
In one word, describe but your friend Tom berjn Brother
in one word. Describe your time on the show rewarding
in one word, describe Max.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
Uh I have two can think of his love and challenge.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
In one word. Describe what the word beauty means to
you today my grandkids. Oh, and last one, in one word,
who is to Gilbert today?
Speaker 2 (53:02):
Nana?
Speaker 1 (53:03):
I love it? Thank you so much, Melissa. This was
so fun, This was so much fun. Where can people
find you? And are you working on any I mean
you're working on so much, but like on anything new
as far as like the entertainment industry goes. Oh, are
you just focusing on you?
Speaker 2 (53:18):
There's a lot of stuff sort of brewing. Next year
is the fiftieth anniversary of Little House on the Prairie.
Oh wow, fifty years. And so there's a big festival
in SeeMe Valley in March, and there's a bunch of
other things that are kind of brewing that I have
my hand in, but nothing solid. Can really say anything yet.
And of course there's Modern Prairie. So there's the Modern
Prairie app, which you are on, and then there's Modern
(53:40):
Prairie dot com. And we're getting ready for all of
our holiday stuff and our holiday workshops.
Speaker 1 (53:47):
And I just bought two puzzles from your mar Modern
Prairie dot com. You have no idea. I'm a fellow
arts and craftswoman. I don't think you understand. And I've
been baking. I'm going to try your pumpkin pie with
gender snap us too. I printed it out.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
It's a good one. It's a good one. It's yeah,
enjoy that. Thank you for Thanksgiving too, And so that's
kind of that's kind of it right now. There's always
a lot, Yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
What is your website and your Instagram and social media handles?
Speaker 2 (54:18):
My Instagram is uh I think Melissa Gilbert Official is
my Instagram and it's www dot Modern Prairie dot com.
And then you can download the apps from there or
at the app store. It's the Modern Prairie app for
Google or Android. And I think that's sort of Oh,
Modern Prairie has its own Instagram too. Modern Prairie our
(54:40):
official Modern Prairie.
Speaker 1 (54:42):
Thank you so much for all that you do. Again,
thank you. This was so fun and thanks for making
the time sure.
Speaker 2 (54:49):
Thanks for having me on. This was lovely.
Speaker 1 (54:51):
Make sure you guys follow us at sex Lies and
spray tands on our Instagram handle and make sure your comment.
Let me know who you want me to interview. What
do you all think? Let me know
Host
Cheryl Burke
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.